“I shall then show forth
thy praise;
Serve thee all my happy days;
Then the world shall always
see
Christ, the Holy Child in
me.”

THE TRANSFIGURATION

This was one of the most surprising scenes in the
life of our blessed Lord. It forms a great contrast
to the other events mentioned in his history.
He “came to visit us in great humility.”
When we read how he was born in a stable, and cradled
in a manger; how he had “not where to lay his
head;” when we read of the lowliness, and poverty,
and suffering that marked his course, day by day,
we come naturally to think of him as “the man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” And
though, when we remember how he healed the sick, and
cast out devils, and raised the dead to life again;
how he walked upon the waters, and controlled the
stormy winds and waves with his simple word, he seems
wonderful in his power and majesty; yet there is nothing,
in all his earthly life, that leads us to think so
highly of him, as this scene of the Transfiguration,
of which we are now to speak.

The account of this event is given us by three of
the evangelists. We find it described by St.
Matt, xvii: 1-13. St. Mark ix: 2-13.
St. Luke ix: 28-29.

A short time before this took place, Jesus had told
his disciples how he was to go up to Jerusalem, to
suffer many things, to be put to death, be buried,
and be raised again on the third day. St. Matt,
xvi: 21. He also told them of the self-denial,
which all who became his disciples would be required
to exercise. This was very different from what
they were expecting and must have been very discouraging
to them. They did not yet understand that their
Master had come into the world to suffer and to die.
Instead of this, their minds were filled with the
idea that the object of his coming was to establish
an earthly kingdom and to reign in glory. And,
for themselves, they were expecting that they would
share his glory and reign as princes with him.
And so they must have been greatly troubled by his
words. To encourage and comfort them, therefore,
he told them that, before they died, some of them
should “see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

And then, some days after this, he took three of his
disciples, the favored John and James and Peter, and
went up with them “into a mountain, apart by
themselves, and was transfigured before them.”
We are not told what mountain it was that was thus
honored. Mount Tabor, near Nazareth, on the borders
of the Plain of Esdraelon, has long been regarded
as the favored spot. But, in our day, many persons